Stepping into colonial footsteps – selling wilderness in the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania

Trophy hunting’s historical roots are deeply intertwined with colonial land policies, imperial hunting practices and safari tourism – as a widespread tool in contemporary conservation embedded in hunting tourism, its power in reproducing colonialities needs to be critically discussed. This study investigates how colonialities persist in hunting tourism, focusing on advertising from agencies operating in the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania. Our analysis of six different companies reveals a reliance on colonial imaginaries for all, depicting Africa as uninhabited, pristine wilderness accessible to the white (male) hunter. These narratives and images reinforce racialised, gendered and class-based hierarchies, erasing the region’s environmental history and omitting local communities’ realities. These touristic representations sustain colonial power dynamics, as Africa is framed as wild nature in need of Western intervention and uninhabited land to be conquered while evoking fantasies of the colonial lifestyle in tourists. The findings highlight the importance of critically deconstructing colonial imaginaries in wildlife tourism and promoting more equitable, post/decolonial narratives.